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『 your p.o.v 』

"If there was one thing you could change, what would it be?"

I stared at the blonde for a moment with a questioning look. "What type of question is that, Kou?"

He shrugged as a smile danced across his lips, the two of us being the only ones sitting in the main living room of the Mukami's mansion. "I don't know. It just popped into my head and now I'm curious. You remember some stuff about us, maybe not everything, but some things so if you could change just one thing, what would that be?"

"I don't know. There's nothing I'd change as of right now I guess." I murmured while we sat together on the large couch. The howls outside stopped a little while ago, nothing but silence falling comfortably around us. "Though it's weird knowing that we used to know each other way back then, you know? I go from having no recollection of anything to suddenly remembering you and your brothers so vividly... It's, weird. I can remember certain things from my time with you four, but my childhood before and after I met you and your brothers is still a mystery..."

Kou was quiet for a moment. He soon shifted his attention back to me, his left eye glowing a vibrant blood red suddenly. "Do you wish that you didn't remember us..?" He then asked, the question itself as well as his glowing red eye shocking me to an extent.

"Of course not," I answered immediately without an ounce of hesitation, "why would I wish to not remember you guys?"

"We weren't exactly the nicest to you when you first showed up at the orphanage." Kou said with a dejected laugh. "You were just some random girl who wouldn't leave us alone and it was only when you helped Ruki that we began accepting you."

My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Helped Ruki?" I repeated lamely. No memory of me helping him has resurfaced just yet...

The blonde nodded some. "He's never told us what exactly it is you did, but, it was big enough for him to take you in like you were apart of our small family. We began liking you too eventually, but that beginning wasn't the best for first impressions."

"I don't remember that time actually." I murmured. "I remember all the good times though. Like when you'd let me climb into your bed on the top bunk when I was too scared to sleep and the times when we'd stay up talking about the most random of things for the sake of talking to one another. I actually kind of miss those days now that I can remember them." I flashed the blonde vampire a small smile. "But I'd never want to just not remember you guys. You and your brothers mean a lot to me."

Kou chuckled. "If you say so ___."

We sat in a calm silence for a little while before the blonde suddenly thought up of another question to ask. "Those howls earlier while we were at the orphanage, do you know what that was all about? I heard howls at school the night Kino attacked you too..."

"Don't tell him about the church just yet."

Heading Yui's advice, I kept quiet on that instance and instead shook my head. "The howls were familiar, but I can't remember why. I feel like I've heard them before and that I don't have a reason to be scared of them, though that's all I can recall as of right now."

"They're wolves, shouldn't you be scared of them?" Kou asked with a wry grin. "Unless you just have some sort of death wish." He then chuckled.

"I mean, I'm willingly staying with a bunch of vampires so I think it's pretty safe to say I have some sort of a death wish." I said with a small laugh. "The only thing I understand is that part of me longed to go in search of the wolves," I then murmured a little softer, "almost as if they were calling out to me."

Kou's eyes widened some at my words. "See, now that's weird and borderline crazy. You definitely have a death wish."

Just as I was getting ready to respond, Azusa opened the door to the living room and walked in with a tired smile. He always looks so drained. He looked the same when we were younger too, already cutting himself and wanting nothing more than to be abused so his life would have some sort of purpose other than simply existing. It pains me to know that he's still cutting himself even after all those years. Guess some scars just never heal...

Smiling to the scar littered vampire, I beckoned him over to join our conversation. "Azusa, come over here and sit with us."

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as his eyes softened some. "Eve..." He murmured just as he sat down on the other side of me, the three of us now all sitting together on the couch.

The blonde sitting to my right sighed. "We're not making ___ our new Eve Azu so stop calling her that." He said lamely to his brother, sitting forward some so he could get a clear view of the youngest Mukami.

Azusa frowned at that. "Why not?" He asked softly. "___, would make a great... Eve..."

"We can't have Sow as our Eve." Yuma said with a deadpanned expression, suddenly appearing on the couch opposite of us with a jar of sugar cubes resting against his thigh. Holding out my hands and cupping them some, I smiled when Yuma tossed me a sugar cube.

"But, it's our... duty to carry, out his plan... Right..?" Azusa asked to no one in particular as I ate my very own cube of nothing but pure sugar. It's good, like, insanely good. I see why Yuma is always munching on these whenever he get's the chance to. I might have to steal some from him later tonight...

"If he's dead then what does it matter?" Kou answered with a question of his own, the mention of death immediately pulling me back into this conversation.

Yuma nodded some as he popped another sugar cube into his mouth. "Yeah, we don't have any favor to repay if he's dead." He said all nonchalantly as if someone being dead is absolutely no big deal whatsoever.

"To them, his death isn't anything that major other than that they're no longer shackled to fulfilling their end of the bargain." Yui explained helpfully.

I get that to an extent, but death is death and should never just be trivialized... I mean, Ruki said they were indebted to the Vampire King! That's an important man so his death had to have affected plenty of people. I'd hate to know what aftermath his death brought along...

Shaking his head some, Azusa grabbed my hand that's closest to himself and interlaced our fingers, my heart skipping a momentary beat despite the pain radiating from my palm. The cuts under the bandages still haven't healed fully just yet even with Reiji trying to give me medicine to have them heal as quickly as possible. Those glass shards really ripped up my hand sadly making it difficult to heal.

"It's not about, the debt anymore..." Azusa said, looking from Kou to Yuma. His expression is soft and almost somber as it usually is, and yet there now feels as if there's an aura of seriousness about him now. That's unusual for Azusa who typically follows the flow of things. Standing up like this to his brothers, even if it is in a such a small way, is rare.

"I- I don't understand Azusa..." My voice trailed off as he lifted my hand to place the back of it against his warm cheek, not caring about the bandages covering my hand in the least bit.

"I like, you, Eve..." He said, his smile still tired and sweet as ever as his eyes met my own. I've never noticed how long his eyelashes are or how beautiful the color swirling around behind his eyes is. I could easily get lost in those mesmerizing eyes of his if it wasn't for Kou and Yuma dragging me out of my thoughts. Note to self, Azusa is just as if not more dangerous than Shu...

Yuma threw a single sugar cube at Azusa from the opposite couch. The small little cube promptly hit the youngest Mukami square on his forehead before falling down to rest on his lap, Azusa flinching some at the sudden attack. "Oi, that's not cool Azusa."

"Yeah, why do you get to tell her you like her?" Kou then asked, already glaring at his younger brother with his left eye once again glowing that same bright red it was only moments ago. "She isn't yours." He then said in a deeper more serious voice that truly caught me off guard. There's never been one memory I can recall where I've seen Kou get so, so cold. It's almost a little scary to witness this.

I can't follow their conversation all that well what with this sudden talk of the Vampire King being dead and suddenly calling me Eve. Yui brought that up when I first discovered her as my guardian angel as well, that much I can remember. But would that weird project thing really have something to do with Azusa calling me his Eve?

"The Adam and Eve Project." Yui's faint voice bounced around my thoughts.

The Adam and Eve Project? What about it?

"You might want to ask Ruki about it before these vampires try to claim you all for themselves." She said softly.

"Has anyone seen Ruki?" I blurted out suddenly, carefully slipping my hand out from where Azusa still had our fingers interlaced. "He isn't here..." I then murmured as I stood up and wandered over to the door to the lounge. Not a single one of the three Mukami's in the living room questioned me as I walked right out of the room, closing the door behind me with a soft click.

The Mukami's mansion as a whole is very different from the Sakamaki's. It has a calmer and warmer feel to it, though the mansion itself is smaller when compared to the Sakamaki's. I like both mansions in all honesty. They each have their own special charms, but I shouldn't be getting distracted by that just yet. First and foremost, I need to find Ruki.

"Turn down that hallway and then go up the stairs to the right once you hit another small lounge area with the large window that overlooks the back courtyard of the estate. Ruki's room is up those stairs and through the door." Yui spoke up helpfully.

Silently thanking her and listening to her directions, I soon found myself standing in front of a closed door. Few sounds could be heard from the other side. The shutting off of running water, rustling of sheets, opening of another door only to be closed once more. With much hesitance, I raised my hand and lightly knocked against the wooden door. "Excuse me, Ruki? Can I speak with you for a few moments?" 

There was a breath of silence before I heard a faint "come in" from the other side of the door.

Quickly, I opened and closed the door before glancing around the bedroom. My eyes only stopped when they landed on Ruki, his bare back facing me just as he was fixing to pull on his button up shirt. The two scars stretching down each of his shoulder blades stole my attention almost instantly. No words came to me as I remembered just how he had gotten those two scars.

It was one of the nights we had all stayed up playing out in the back courtyard of the orphanage after hours when we should have been asleep. We were just playing around and being kids, having the time of our lives as we tried to keep our voices down as to not get caught. But we weren't lucky that night. Kou, Yuma, Azusa, and myself had all been beat up by the orphanages staff when they found us out of our room and outside. But Ruki, the oldest of the Mukami's, I personally think got the worst punishment out of all of us for our actions once we were dragged back into that horrible building.

Ruki had been dragged through that trap door under the rug and down the stairs by his hair. I followed after the adults without them paying me much mind. I was just the girl who couldn't remember anything. Why would they go through the trouble of trying to push me away when whatever I saw down there, I would surely forget within the next few hours? With that train of thought, no one prevented me from chasing after Ruki and no one spared me a single glance once we were down there in the dungeon like place either, almost as if I just, disappeared.

In horror I watched as Ruki was thrown to the ground. I couldn't let him go down there alone. His brothers would be just fine upstairs away from all this. Their wounds, despite being pretty bad, weren't nearly as serious as they could have been. Ruki on the other hand was at the mercy of these bad people and there was no telling what they might do to him. I couldn't abandon him and leave him all alone when he was just trying to help all of us escape this hell we called home. He needed someone to stay with him and I was determined to be that person even if it meant me getting hurt in the process. As long as I was there for him, I could handle anything he needed me to handle.

The adults who were supposed to be our caretakers but were truly our abusers ripped off his shirt, leaving him in only his pants. They were relentless as they kicked and punched him, blood pooling on the floor as it dripped from his nose and now busted lip. Though when I saw one of the bad people suddenly grab an angry red cattle iron from the nearby furnace, I knew I had to do something- anything to help.

Before anyone really knew what was going on, I jumped in front of Ruki right as the burning iron was seconds away from making contact with the skin of his back, himself too stunned by the fear coursing through his veins to move. The cattle iron burned right through my thin shirt, singeing all the way to the skin on my back and leaving nasty burns that last to this day. They never went away and it was only when I cried out that the adults realized they had just branded the wrong child.

I was promptly pushed away with such force that when I fell back to the ground, my head hit the cement and bounced, my small body not being able to take such trauma and thus causing me to faint almost instantly. Though before I blacked out entirely, I remember Ruki getting burned with that cattle iron next, the memory of his shrill screams sending chills up my spine even now regardless of how many years have passed since that dreadful night.

"Do they still hurt?" I asked without thinking, slowly approaching the black haired Mukami as he glanced to me from over his shoulder. "The scars I mean?"

"So, you remember these?" He answered with a question of his own from where he stands in front of the windows overlooking the front of his estate.

Surprisingly, Ruki didn't move as I gently traced my fingers over the slightly tougher skin of his back, these two scars not looking nearly as bad as the one stretching across the entirety of my own, but still bad nonetheless. "I wanted to protect you..." I murmured sadly. "But even jumping in front of that burning hot cattle iron wouldn't save you. In the end, I couldn't save any of you could I?"

Ruki turned around, slipping his shirt on all the way now and looking to me with conflicting emotions running wild behind those usually such cold blue eyes of his. "It was never your job to protect us." He said simply.

Sighing, I took a step back from him in favor of taking a seat on one of the small couches placed on either side of a coffee table, his bed now behind me. "Still, I felt responsible for being there for each of you and a few nights later, we got separated. I don't remember what happened to you guys or myself up until I was taken in by the church..."

"The church?" Ruki repeated.

"Don't tell him."

I shook my head. "Never mind that. Tell me, what happened after the night we tried to escape."

The black haired Mukami stared out the large window of his room. "After we were shot and captured once more by the orphanage, the Vampire King gave us the option to become vampires in exchange that we'd essentially do his bidding. We'd be given everything we'd ever need to live, though he needed us for this plan and we'd have to do exactly as he said if we were to take him up on his offer, which, we did."

"The Adam and Eve project?" I then asked.

Ruki didn't say anything for a moment, now turning to look at me directly. "How do you know about that?"

I shrugged. "Does it matter? Azusa is trying to claim me as his Eve and I think I deserve to know what he means by that and just what type of plan the Vampire King had for you and your brothers."

"What makes you think you deserve to know?" Ruki then asked, his expression growing more stony the longer this conversation goes on.

"Didn't you say I was practically family?" I asked in return.

The black haired vampire stayed quiet at that as he looked to me blankly. Though after a moment in silence had passed, he reluctantly sighed. "Fine." He said before taking a seat on the couch across from my own, nothing but the coffee table separating us. "The Adam and Eve project was created in order to make a new race, one that would change the world, or so he said." Ruki explained. "The girl, Eve, would have the heart of a First Blood and her blood would choose an Adam that she would have children with and essentially rule the Demon World alongside."

Slowly, I nodded. "What happened to your Eve, or did she never come here?" I asked.

"She was killed by Kino."

"Yui..?"

"Yes." Ruki sighed. "He wants nothing more than to kill off the Vampire race as a whole and so far looks as though he will stop at nothing to do just that."

I frowned some. "Is that why Reiji was so adamant on someone always accompanying me? You're all scared he'll succeed in killing me?"

"It's only logical to think so." Ruki murmured.

"I guess, but what would he get out of killing me? I have nothing to offer any of you or him for that matter."

"You're someone important to us, all of us. Kino wouldn't hesitate in taking away anything we hold even remotely dear to our hearts and that includes you."

Shaking my head some, I looked to Ruki with a confused expression. "But I don't understand, why am I so important to you vampires?"

"We each have our different reasons which is something you should be told by each person themselves. I can't speak on behalf of everyone." Ruki responded coolly. "Besides, I don't know how you're connected to those dreadful Sakamaki's so it's not like I can help you there even if you wanted me to."

"Then, tell me, why am I important to you?" I asked hesitantly.

The black haired Mukami stayed quiet for a moment, really looking at me now. His eyes grew warmer though as a faint ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Back then, I think we each fell in love with you." He said honestly. "But then you disappeared, we grew up, and both you and myself along with my brothers moved on. Though to see you here again, in the flesh and regaining your memories and still as humble as you were all those years ago, nothing changing about you in the slightest, I can't explain it. You're not some piece of Livestock to me and I want to protect you just as you protected us. Simple as that."

I couldn't help but smile some at his words. "You are willing to risk your own life to protect me from Kino?"

"We all are." Ruki responded. "And to think that some girl who wandered into that hell of an orphanage would turn out to be someone so special..." He then murmured, glancing away from me and refocusing his eyes on the large window that overlooks the front of the estate.

A faint howl suddenly broke the calm silence that had fallen around us. I couldn't help but look towards the window as well, a full moon only a couple days away now. Those howls really are familiar, annoyingly so. I feel stupid for not recognizing them and all I want to do is run out the front of this here mansion in search of the very wolves creating such beautiful sounds.

Ruki frowned. "Those wolves are following you." He said as he flicked his attention back to me. Unlike myself, he doesn't seem very fond of the idea that there are wolves trying to locate my exact location.

"I know," was all I responded with, not really knowing what else to say other than "I know..."

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Have I ever said how much I love the Mukami's? *i love them a lot in case you can't tell and they must be protected at all costs*

Question of the Chapter: Any thoughts as to why there are wolves following your character? Are they friendly or do they wish to harm you? I'm genuinely curious to see what everyone thinks since I of course know why they're there but have absolutely no idea what all of you lovely peeps are thinking about them lol

This chapter was more of a buffer between what's to come next so be prepared for a more serious chapter when I next update :') I swear no one dies! This might be one of my few Dialovers fics where none of the main boys die- shocking, I know. But I can't promise they won't be seriously injured so, I mean, at least no one is going to die.~

As always my lovelies, thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a nice day/night/evening/life :')

~ Love, Kat ♡